R&D Subsidies and Economic Growth

Carl Davidson () and Paul Segerstrom

RAND Journal of Economics, 1998, vol. 29, issue 3, 548-577

Abstract: We present an endogenous growth model in which some firms devote resources to developing higher-quality products (innovative R&D) and other firms devote resources to copying these products (imitative R&D). Although consumers benefit from the knowledge created by both types of R&D activities, only innovative R&D subsidies lead to faster economic growth; imitative R&D subsidies actually lead to slower economic growth. A key assumption driving these conclusions is that R&D activities are subject to decreasing returns. When R&D activities are subject to constant returns, as is commonly assumed, the only equilibrium with both innovation and imitation is unstable.

Date: 1998
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